“None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again,” he said. “Not straight off … It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we’ve all said that we can’t possibly dive into that again. It’ll kill us.”

The problem isn’t the format – “obviously, there’s still something great about the album,” Yorke said – but with the scale and consistency of vision that is required. “In Rainbows was a particular aesthetic and I can’t bear the idea of doing that again. Not that it’s not good, I just can’t … bear … that.”

The death of the LP has been predicted for sometime now. With downloads available in singles format, the long play album seems to be a thing of the past for mainstream artists. However, it was felt that the album would survive mainly because so many musicians favor it as a way to express themselves artistically.

Often times, artists will write a batch of songs that either fit together or are reflective of a certain time in their lives. Putting those into a collection makes more sense than releasing them one at a time. For Katy Perry or the Jonas Brothers, whose artistic expression runs about as deep as shallow pond in drought conditions, the single or EP is ideal.

But what makes this announcement particularly unique is that it comes from a band known for its experimental music and its love of the long form. If any band was built for the album, it’s Radiohead, which makes this news surprising.